


The Underneath 2

by msmorie



Series: The Underneath [2]
Category: Jrock, X JAPAN
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-06-27 02:28:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15676173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msmorie/pseuds/msmorie
Summary: Someone dangerous has come back into their lives and this time they need to finish the job.





	1. Magnolia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [Slip](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sBnp6oNbR8q6YSMJN5zKNEM7KtmCnS7z)  
>  **Artist:** SCHWEIN

The well-dressed man slid the yellow envelope across the counter to hide. “Please give this to Yoshiki. It’s urgent. Tell him it’s from Sakurai.”

He paid for his drink and left, pulling up the collar of his black trench coat against the cold and the rain outside.

 

As soon as the door closed behind the man, hide exchanged a quick glance with Sugizo and Heath.

“I’m going to take a quick break, guys,” he said, and they nodded.

He retreated into the back room and stared at the envelope. It was unsealed so he slipped a hand inside and pulled out several glossy photographs.

 

“Hey. What was that all about?”

hide didn’t look up from the photos. “Taiji, this wasn’t you, was it?”

Taiji took a swig of beer and glanced through the photos that hide held out to him. “Nope. I’ve never seen this guy in my life.”

Pata wandered over. He took a couple of the photos and held them up to the light. “How can you tell?” he asked. “His face is _completely_ ruined.”

“You always recognise your own work,” Taiji said. “Please. Give me some credit here. Even I’m not _that_ sloppy.”

Toshi reached a hand out. “Let me see those.”

Taiji shoved the photos under his nose and Toshi’s brow furrowed. He turned toward hide without looking away from the pictures. “Who did you say it was that gave you these?”

“He said his name was Sakurai. He told me to give these to Yoshiki urgently.”

Toshi looked through the photos carefully, sometimes going back for a second or a third look.

hide was impatiently rocking back and forth on his heels. “Well?”

Toshi chewed on his lower lip. “Christ, I need a cigarette for this.”

“Don’t give it to him,” hide said when Pata reached for a pack. “Toshi, I thought you quit.”

“I did. Just give me a cigarette.”

Taiji sighed. “Give him a cigarette.”

hide slapped Pata’s hand away. “No!”

Toshi rubbed his face with his hands. “Fine. You see this?” He tapped one of the photos. “It’s a pretty hard to see through all the blood, but there’s the word _witch_ carved into his back.”

The other three crowded around the photo and squinted.

“Huh. I think you’re right,” Pata said.

“Shit,” said hide. “That’s got to be her, then. The little witch.”

“Yeah. I’m positive it’s her.” Toshi looked around the room. “Where are Heath and Sugizo?”

Taiji pointed his thumb back over his shoulder. “Out the front bartending like bartenders.”

“Tell them to close up and kick everyone out.”

“But it’s not even 9pm—”

Toshi stacked the photos together neatly and slid them back into the envelope. “I don’t care. We need to talk to Yoshiki about this.”

 

* * *

 

hide, Pata and Taiji were leaning against the counter playing Blackjack while they waited for Yoshiki.

Toshi was diligently wiping down the counter and stopped when he reached them. “Move.”

“Go ‘round,” Pata said, waving a hand lazily.

Toshi ground his teeth and sighed, and wiped around the three of them and their cards.

Heath sat at a table reading a dog-eared copy of _The Shining_.

Sugizo was sketching in his notebook. “Which part are you up to?”

Heath calmly turned the page and stretched his long legs out on the chair next to him. “Creepy bathtub lady in Room 237.”

 

They all looked up when they heard knocking at the front door.

“Just ignore it,” hide said. “They’ll go away.”

The knocking persisted and the six of them exchanged a mildly irritated look.

“Bar’s closed, asshole!” Taiji shouted, and Toshi smacked his arm. “Can’t you read the fucking sign?”

The person on the other side started banging on the door, so hide heaved a sigh and went to unlock the door. “Sorry, but we’re closed tonight,” he said as he swung the door open.

He stopped short when the dim light inside the bar fell upon their guest: a woman with long, dark brown hair.

“I thought I was always welcome here,” she said, affecting a plaintive tone.

 

hide’s face lit up. “Anza! How long has it been?”

“Couple of years, maybe,” the woman said, giving him a warm hug. “I’m glad to see that not much has changed around here. Speaking of which…” She set her eyes on Taiji, crossed the room in a few brisk strides with her hair bouncing against her shoulders, and kissed him full on the lips. He tasted of smoke and whisky.

Taiji wore a shit-eating grin. “How’s my best girl?”

“You tell me,” she said, giving him a saucy smile. She looked around the rest of the room and her gaze fell upon Sugizo. “Hel- _lo_. You’re new.”

“Anza’s a very old friend of ours,” hide said to Sugizo. “Taiji’s her favourite.”

“I can see that,” Sugizo said, looking somewhat mystified.

“Anza, this is Sugizo,” hide said. “He’s been with us for about a year now.”

“Hello, Sugizo,” she said silkily. She gave him a little wave and Taiji looked peeved. “Looks like Taiji might have some competition. Hot, nice arms, tattoos… you’re just my type.”  
“Not so fast, my dear.” hide put a hand on her shoulder as she started forward. “You’re going to have to keep your hands off this one. He belongs to Heath.”

“Really?” Anza said, looking interested. She winked at Heath and then gave Sugizo a good looking over. “Nice. I bet you love having those gorgeous legs wrapped around you.”

Heath coughed and quickly took his legs off the chair, trying to be discreet.

“Only you can make Heath blush like that, Anza,” Pata chortled. hide was laughing and even Sugizo had to smother a grin.

“What brings you back to Tokyo?” Heath asked, changing the subject. “Sapporo too cold for you, or did you miss us?”

Just like that, Anza’s flippant demeanor faded. “Actually I uh, got some bad news.”

“So did we,” Toshi said. He popped the lid off a bottle of beer and handed it to her.

“I know,” she said with a wry smile. “Atsushi told me about it as well. That’s why I’m here.”

“Is this Sakurai? Who is he?” hide asked.

“A very, very old associate of Yoshiki’s,” Toshi said.

“I… I know I won’t be of any help, but I just felt like I’d be safer with you guys,” Anza added a little nervously. She held the beer bottle tightly in both hands. “I hope you don’t mind…”

Toshi patted her head reassuringly, but Sugizo looked confused. “I feel like I’m missing a big chunk of the story here.”

“This was way back in the day,” Toshi explained. “Back in Tateyama, Chiba. Before The Underneath.”

 

* * *

 

 


	2. Gardenia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [WITCH](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qeK5eNAhNR4ax1V0K51nhAs1YK6SN6gU)  
>  **Artist:** Youjeen

Her name was Youjeen. Not long after Yoshiki had recruited Taiji, they picked her up off the streets at the tender age of twelve. hide nicknamed her the witch because of her wiliness. She fully embraced this moniker and even asked Taiji to tattoo a black cat on the back of her neck.

Yoshiki saw potential in her, but this potential turned out to be ruthlessness.

 

“He was always very careful around her,” hide said. “Not because she was a girl, or because she was just a kid. She was a bit unhinged. Instead of making a clean kill, she’d load them full of bullets and let them bleed out, or cut them until they died of shock. Tried to burn one to death once. Then she started carving the word _witch_ into them while they were still alive. Taiji or I would usually have to finish them off for her.”

They all looked up when they heard footsteps coming from the back room. Yoshiki pulled up a chair next to hide, and Toshi handed him the envelope of photos.

“Keep going,” Yoshiki said, leafing through the pictures.

hide nodded. “One day Youjeen picks up this blond pretty boy and she’s over the moon about him. He’s just a horny teenager and can’t help falling for her girlish charms. You’d hear them giggling behind closed doors and find them inside, making out and fondling each other. We think, _finally_ she’s acting like a normal teenager.”

“After a couple of weeks of this, hide and I heard these weird thumping noises.” Pata cracked open a can of beer. “Opened the door and there’s Youjeen sitting on the boy with her skirts hiked up to here and the word _witch_ cut into his chest. She’d fucked him and strangled him.”

hide took a drag of his cigarette. “When we told Yoshiki about it and showed him the body, he went sick at her.”

Sugizo exchanged a glance with Heath and then looked at Anza. She had turned a little pale and her expression was grim. Taiji noticed this as well and put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze.

“So Youjeen’s on her best behaviour for a couple of months and then she comes in with a new pet, a girl this time. She has an eye for the pretty ones, does Youjeen,” hide said. Anza smiled wanly at this.

“Lucky I was there,” Taiji said. “I thought I’d dropped my keys around the bathroom, and then I hear screaming like someone’s being murdered. Threw open the door and there’s Youjeen on top of Anza with a fucking pocket knife, _covered_ in blood. So I grab the little witch by the scruff of her neck and deck her.”

“She gave me this,” Anza said, tugging the collar of her coat aside and tilting her head up. There was a long scar that ran past her collarbone. “But I think I gave her a pretty nice one across the face.”

Taiji went on, “So Anza’s still screaming bloody murder and I’m trying to stop her from bleeding out because fuck, she’s a kid, right? She doesn’t deserve this. Then Youjeen fucking _wakes up_ and slithers out the door like a fucking eel, just like that.”

“Should have hit her harder,” hide said, taking a swig of Pata’s beer.

“Should have killed her,” Taiji said.

“Where does Sakurai fit into all of this?” Heath asked.

“Yoshiki sent me to Sakurai Atsushi to keep me safe,” Anza said. “He didn’t want anyone to know at the time. Apparently Youjeen ran off to South Korea. Not a peep from her since, until one of Atsushi’s men found that body that you saw in the photos.”

 

Everybody was quiet for a moment.

 

“What are we going to do about her?” Toshi asked.

“We need to finish what was started,” Yoshiki said simply.

“She doesn’t know about this place, does she?” Anza asked.

Yoshiki shook his head. “No. You should be safe here with us. And she doesn’t know about Heath or Sugizo either.”

The two in question looked at each other, and then at Yoshiki.

“We need someone she’s not familiar with to find her and get close to her,” Yoshiki said. “If she catches wind of any of us, she’ll run again and god knows when our next chance will be.”

 

They were all quiet for a few seconds. Heath raised one hand slightly. “I’ll—”

“I’ll do it,” Sugizo said. “I’m the newest here. And the most expendable.”

Heath looked at him sharply.

“Thank you, Sugizo,” Yoshiki said, nodding.

“Don’t fuck up your first solo job off probation, new kid,” Taiji said crisply. “This time you won’t have me or hide with you.”

Sugizo looked at him coolly. “Taiji, I don’t know what I’d _ever_ do without your advice.”

hide snorted loudly at this.

“Anyway,” Sugizo went on. “It’s about time I returned the favour to Yoshiki for taking me in.”

“You’ll still have the rest of us as backup, of course,” Toshi assured him. “If you need it. You just need to say when.”

“You okay?” Pata asked Anza.

“I’m… pretty scared,” she admitted. “If I never see her or hear about her again, it’ll be too soon.”

“Where can I start?” Sugizo asked.

“One of Sakurai’s men, Imai, has a few leads on where we might find her,” Anza said. She was hugging her arms around herself.

“Good,” Sugizo said. “Can you put me in contact with Imai?”

She nodded.

“I’m going out for a smoke,” Heath said and he left through the back room. Even from where they were in the bar, they could hear him slamming doors.

Taiji cleared his throat. “I could use one, too. Wanna come?” He looked at Sugizo and held up a pack of cigarettes.

“Uh… sure,” Sugizo said awkwardly. He followed Taiji out through the front door and up the stairs to street level.

Taiji tapped out a couple of cigarettes and lit one for Sugizo before lighting his own. “Hey, so… I didn’t mean to say what I said. I mean, I did, but not the way it came out,” he said. “I just meant that the little witch has a few screws loose. And you thought I was bad.”

Sugizo took a long drag and slowly exhaled. Then he looked at Taiji with a cynical smile. “If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think you actually gave a shit. Are we becoming friends?”

“Well, we haven’t killed each other yet, but that’s still plenty of time for that,” Taiji said, and Sugizo grinned.

They were quiet for a moment and Taiji pretended to examine his cigarette. “Listen. Uh. Don’t… don’t fuck anything up, okay?”

“What are you going on about?”

“You know. You’ve got a good thing going on with the skinny one.”

Sugizo laughed. “You mean Heath?”

“Yeah,” Taiji said gruffly. “Make sure you look after him, because he’ll look after you.”

“Did he tell you something?” Sugizo asked.

“He doesn’t tell me shit.” Taiji took a light drag and gave him a knowing smile. “You think I’m just a thug who talks with his fists, but I’m pretty good at reading people. Read _you_ like a book, didn’t I?”

Sugizo looked at him ruefully.

“All I’m saying is, don’t fuck this up. He cares about you. A lot.” Taiji gave Sugizo a clap on the shoulder and went back inside.

  


In the car, Sugizo glanced over at Heath. He sat, legs crossed, in the passenger seat with his chin resting in his hand, looking out the window but not really seeing anything.

“You okay?” Sugizo asked.

When Heath didn’t answer, Sugizo put a hand on his knee and patted it gently.

After a while, Heath said, “I’m fine.” He put his hand over Sugizo’s and gave it an affectionate squeeze.

 

* * *

 

Pata made arrangements to have Sugizo live in a separate apartment in Togoshi-Ginza, in case he might be followed home. They were each given a key to the apartment if they needed to get inside for any reason. Heath said nothing about all of this, but one day while Sugizo was out, Heath left a Beretta 8000, two extra magazines, and a switchblade on the nightstand. Later that night he came home to his own apartment and found a note under the door.

 

_Thank you._

_Love,_

_SGZ_

 

Imai’s leads on Youjeen yielded no results over the next two weeks. They had determined that she liked to frequent nightclubs and that she usually stayed in Chiba, but she rarely returned to the same place more than twice. No new bodies had turned up; she either hadn’t killed again, or if she had, she’d taken some pains to get rid of the evidence.

“That doesn’t sound like something she’d do, though,” hide had said. “She’s proud of what she does. She _wants_ someone to find the bodies.”

Taiji traced a big circle next to his head. “Few screws loose.”

Heath looked at Sugizo. “Be careful around her. Watch your back.”

“Don’t worry.” Sugizo gave him a quick smile. “I have to go, I promised the boys I’d be there for an early rehearsal. I’ll see you after the gig.”

  


During the gig, Lunacy played a few new songs that the crowd went wild for. Sugizo loved the energy and the exhilaration of playing live music. All five band members had a great rapport but he’d grown especially close with the rhythm guitarist, Inoran, and the bassist, J.

It was after the gig that J approached them with a cold beer in each hand and a broad smile. “Good fucking show, eh?”

“It sure was,” Sugizo said, accepting the beer gratefully.

“Hey, I wanted to introduce you to a few people,” J said, clapping him on the back and leading them both toward the stage door. “I’ve seen them at our last few shows and and one of them said she really wanted to meet you guys. I guess she has a taste for pretty boys.” He chuckled.

J took them to where three people stood drinking beers—one man, one woman, and one that could go either way. “Guys, I’d like you to meet Inoran and Sugizo.”

Sugizo smiled politely and shook each of their hands in turn.

 

“Inoran and Sugizo, I’d like you to meet Hora, Kaya, and Youjeen.”

 

* * *

 

**Youjeen:** from South Korean band Cherry Filter and released 2 albums in Japan. Worked with Luna Sea's J for the first one.

 

 

**Hora & Kaya:** ex-Schwarz Stein.


	3. Camellia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [#1 Crush](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qzfDqv-CHEdtCVhO_XkCadv2VCmTPG76)  
>  **Artist:** garbage

“I think I’ve got her.”

 

hide leaned forward in his seat. “Where? I thought Imai’s leads were all dead ends.”

“They were.” Sugizo stood, leaning against the back of Heath’s chair. “But she’s not in Chiba. She’s here. She’s been coming to Lunacy gigs in Meguro.”

“Are you sure it was her?” Pata asked.

“How many Youjeens can there be?”

“Cat tattoo?”

“Yes, Pata. I’ve just met the woman and I’m going to check her all over for tattoos.”

“Okay okay,” he conceded. “What about the scar, then?”

“No scar,” Sugizo said. “But I will look out for the tattoo, and if she’s carrying anything. She was all over poor Inoran - I’ll need to keep an eye out for him.”

Taiji adjusted the cowboy hat on his head. “If anything, I’d guess she’s got a knife on her, not a gun.”

Sugizo nodded. “Okay. I’ll watch out for that. She’s got two pretty boys with her, too.”

“What’s your next move?” hide asked.

“J invited them to come drinking with us after tonight’s gig. It wasn’t difficult to convince her.”

Pata scoffed a little. “This is all just falling into your lap, isn’t it?”

Sugizo looked down at Heath, who sat, slowly turning a knife around in his hands and looking distant. Sugizo reached down to gently thread his fingers through his hair. Heath didn’t seem to notice.

“I’ll go for a clean kill if I have that luxury. Is there any chance of her finding us here?”

“I doubt it,” said Taiji. “Like Yoshiki said, she’ll run if she sees us. She’s not looking for revenge; she just wants to play her sick games. She knows that we’ll finish her, given the chance.”

“What are you going to do when you get to her?” Heath’s voice was very quiet, as though he didn’t want to know the answer.

“Charm her, just like I charmed you,” Sugizo said with a carefree smile.

Heath pursed his lips. “This isn’t a joke, Sugizo.”

“I know it’s not. Don’t worry about me.”

 

Fifteen minutes after Sugizo had left for Meguro, Heath found Toshi in the back room counting stock.

“What’s up?” Toshi looked up from his ledger.

“If it’s okay with you, I’m thinking of taking a few nights off,” Heath said.

Toshi looked at him thoughtfully. “Is everything okay?”

“I just have something personal I need to do.”

Toshi knew that if there was something that Heath really didn’t want to talk about, it was no use trying to force it out of him, but he was sure that it had something to do with Sugizo. He nodded slowly. “Okay. I’m sure we’ll be fine with Pata, hide and me. Maybe I’ll get Taiji to get off his ass, as well.”

“Thanks Toshi.” Heath looked grateful and relieved.

“Is… is this something I shouldn’t tell Yoshiki?” Toshi asked carefully.

Heath hesitated. “If you wouldn’t mind. I don’t want to get you caught in the middle, though.”

Toshi nodded again. “It’ll be fine.”

“Thank you.” Heath turned to leave.

“Hey,” Toshi called after him. “Let me know if you need anything, okay? And I want you to check in with me every day.”

“Sure.”

 

* * *

 

Youjeen raised her cocktail glass to her lips and looked at Inoran coyly. “When did you learn to play the guitar?”

“In high school,” Inoran said. “Our bassist J and I went to the same school and we spent a lot of time jamming together, so... ”

 

J had invited Youjeen, Kaya and Hora to join the band for drinks at a nearby bar after the gig, but it was clear that she only had eyes for Inoran and Sugizo. After about fifteen minutes of chatting with each of the band members in turn, she got up and squeezed herself between the two guitarists. J and their drummer Shinya seemed amused by this; Inoran, much less so.

 

Sugizo had the distinct impression that Inoran was uncomfortable with the way she was flirting with him. He decided to use it to his advantage, and it was also an opportunity to get Inoran and the rest of the band out of the picture and out of harm’s way. So when Youjeen shifted her gaze and fluttered her lashes at him, Sugizo smiled and casually slipped an arm around her shoulders and in doing so, brushed some of her hair away. He caught a glimpse of a small black mark: the cat tattoo.

 

“How about you?” she asked. “How did you get mixed up in all of this?”

“I used to play the violin as a kid,” he lied. “I absolutely _hated_ it. My parents forced me to practice for hours every single day. So I did what any kid would do: rebelled, picked up the electric guitar and joined a rock band.”

“Really?” she said. “I think rock stars are just so sexy. Do you still play the violin?”

“I haven’t touched it in years, but I’m sure I could pick it back up again,” he said.

“I just love a rebel,” Youjeen said with smile that vaguely reminded Sugizo of Mana: disingenuous and lacking any warmth.

 

They continued making conversation and Sugizo was showering Youjeen with attention, to the extent that the rest of the band awkwardly made their excuses and left.

Ryuichi went to give Sugizo a hug and quickly said in a low voice, “Be careful around her.”

“I’ll definitely come to the next show!” Youjeen promised without even looking at them. “Meeting all of you has been _amazing_.”

 

Sugizo watched them leave and then turned back to his target. “Want to move somewhere a little more intimate?”

“Absolutely,” she said coquettishly.

The four of them relocated to a smaller booth. When Youjeen prattled and flirted with him, he would flirt back: playing with her hair, leaning in very close to her, hanging onto her every word, all the little tricks to catch her attention. It was easy, and it was working.

 

“How about I get you a real drink?” he offered.

“You certainly know how to look after a girl,” Youjeen said. “I’d love one. Don’t leave me waiting, gorgeous.”

 

Sugizo made his way up to the bar and flagged down one of the bartenders. While he waited, he lit a cigarette and leaned back against the counter. “What are you doing here?”

Heath took a casual swig of his beer. “Keeping an eye on you.”

“I don’t need you to keep an eye on me.” Sugizo paused. “Wait, how did you even know which bar we were going to?”

“I’ve been tailing you all night.”

“Are you insane? You’re going to blow my cover.”

“You’ll blow your own cover if you keep talking to me,” Heath said, and he got up from his barstool and disappeared into the crowd.

 

“What took you so long?” Youjeen demanded petulantly when Sugizo returned with their drinks.

“It’s a busy bar, sweetheart,” he said. He nodded at Hora and Kaya. “Besides, you have these two to keep you company.”

“They’re okay, but you’re… you’re exciting,” she said, and he felt her fingers dance delicately over the Beretta holstered at his back.

Sugizo crossed his legs and leaned against her with an arm around her shoulders. “What’s the story with them, anyway? Can they talk or do they just sit there looking pretty?”

She glanced at Kaya and Hora, and for a fleeting second Sugizo saw the real Youjeen: she was smiling, but there was a cruel edge to it. “I just like having beautiful people around me all the time.” Her eyes wandered over Sugizo unabashedly. “Like you.”

Kaya and Hora sat on the other side of Youjeen, being very quiet and very obedient. Sugizo looked at each of them in turn, wondering if they were really that afraid of her.

“—going to have to call it a night,” Youjeen was saying.

Sugizo blinked. “What?”

“You weren’t even listening to me, were you?” She was pouting.

“I was!”

“You weren’t!”

“Okay,” he admitted. “I just had something else on my mind.” He let his gaze linger on her legs, making sure that she saw.

“I was saying that I’m afraid I have to call it a night. It’s not proper for a lady to stay out this late.” She tugged at the hem of her dress to pull it down modestly, but it was clear that she enjoyed the attention.

“That’s too bad,” Sugizo said, finishing off his beer. “But you’re no lady, are you?”

She held his gaze for a long time. “No.”

 

He saw the three of them off at Youjeen’s car, an older black Mercedes, and held the car door open for her. “Tell me, when do I get to see you next?”

She stepped into the car and Sugizo saw a small knife strapped to the inside of her thigh. “When’s the next gig?” she asked.

“Tomorrow night.”

“We’ll be there.”

“Good.” Sugizo stepped away from the car. “Do I get you all to myself?”

Youjeen just smiled and pulled the car door shut. Hora started the car and they drove off. Nearby, Sugizo heard the sound of a motorbike roaring to life and speeding away.

 


	4. Azalea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [Vaka](https://drive.google.com/open?id=10XfxT9dP9RzmsYBNMn2BDdXYptPGy1Gu)  
>  **Artist:** Sigur Rós

Sugizo went back to his apartment in Togoshi-Ginza for an hour before surveying his surroundings carefully and getting back into his car. He took a very circuitous route to Heath’s apartment and parked three blocks away.

 

Heath looked up from his book when he heard the front door being unlocked. “Hey. I thought you weren’t going to be coming over for a few days yet.”

“I wasn’t,” Sugizo said. “Why did you decide to follow me?”

“I told you. To keep an eye on you.”

“And I told you I’ll be fine.”

Heath looked at him for a second and then shook his head. “It’s not that.”

“Don’t you trust me, then?” Sugizo sounded irritated.

“What did you say?” Heath gave him a critical look.

Sugizo threw his jacket over a chair. “I said, do you not fucking trust me?”

“I trust you completely!” Heath stood face to face with him. “I trust you not to turn on Yoshiki and the others. I trust you with my life, _every second_ that we’re together! I trust that you’re not just pretending to lo—” He stopped abruptly. “It’s _her_ that I don’t trust!”

“What, and you think _I_ trust her?”

“I didn’t say that!” Heath snapped.

“Just let me do my job, okay?” Sugizo said shortly. “Do you follow the rest of them when they’re working?”

“No but—”

“Then why?”

“ _Because it should have been me!_ ”

“What, you think that I’m not up to the job?” Sugizo demanded. “This is what I did before you, remember?”

“No, Sugizo!” Heath sounded despairing. “That’s not what I m—”

“Then what?” Sugizo said sharply.

All Heath could do was look at him helplessly, clenching his hands. Sugizo dimly recalled what Taiji had said to him about Heath, but right now he was too fired up to care. Eventually he gave an exasperated sigh and turned away. “Fuck it. If you don’t trust me enough to tell me what’s going on, that’s fine by me. I’m going to go back to _my_ apartment and get some sleep. I’m fucking tired.”

“Su—”

When Sugizo reached for his jacket, Heath grabbed his wrist and locked his arm behind his back, pushing him roughly up against the wall. Sugizo’s anger flared and every instinct in him told him to fight back.

“Heath what the f—”

 

His protests died away when Heath kissed him hard along the back of his neck, keeping his body pressed firmly against Sugizo’s. It completely disarmed him and he melted into it, letting his head fall back and biting his lip, his breath coming in shallow gasps, his skin burning where Heath kissed him. By now, Heath had let go of his wrist and Sugizo reached back and tangled his fingers in Heath’s hair.

Heath’s hands slid around Sugizo’s waist, fingertips grazing against his skin, making him whimper with pleasure at his touch, kissing, licking, biting. Heath slowly worked his hands up beneath Sugizo’s t-shirt, pulling it off and tossing it onto the floor, his hands wandering along Sugizo’s skin.

“Please don’t go,” Heath said softly.

Sugizo pushed away from the wall and crushed his lips against Heath’s in a raw, bruising kiss full of fire and need and lust and Heath returned the kisses just as aggressively. Sugizo’s hands tugged at Heath’s black silk shirt, fumbling to undo it. Heath guided him to the bedroom, their lips barely parting for even a second, discarding his own shirt on the floor as they went. Sugizo dragged his fingers down Heath’s back; Heath purred appreciatively, running his fingers teasingly along his collarbone and down his chest.

“I love you,” Sugizo whispered breathlessly, over and over again. “God I love you.” He traced every line of Heath’s body with the most delicious kisses, and they loved each other long into the night.

 

* * *

 

They lay in bed together, tangled in the sheets, and Sugizo loved the possessive way that Heath held him.

 

“I’m so sorry,” Heath mumbled into his auburn hair.

Sugizo laughed weakly. “For what you just did to me?”

Despite himself, Heath smiled at this. “Not if you enjoyed it as much as I did. But I’m sorry for yelling at you before.”

“I… barely even remember what that was about.” Sugizo turned his head slightly. “It can’t have been more important than you.”

 

They were quiet for a few moments until Sugizo said, “You’re never going to say it, are you?”

“Say what?” Heath asked, languidly kissing his neck and the gentle curve down to his shoulder.

“ _‘I love you.’_ ”

Heath paused mid-kiss. “You know how I feel about you.”

“Yes…”

“Then does it matter?”

“Not really. It would just be nice to…” Sugizo trailed off. “No, you know what? Just forget about it. Can we just pretend I didn’t say anything?”

Heath wrapped his arms tight around Sugizo and rested his chin on his shoulder.

Sugizo glanced at him sideways. “Heath?”

Heath said nothing.

“Heath, _please_ tell me what’s wrong.”

 

There was a long silence and Sugizo would have thought that Heath had fallen asleep if it weren’t for the occasional kisses to his shoulder.

 

When Heath finally spoke, his voice was very quiet. “When I was about… nineteen or twenty. Back in Amagasaki. I met Shin. We were mad for each other. He went and got my name tattooed on his arm. I taught him how to play with knives. We bought and fixed up our first motorbikes together. Went for long rides into the sunset, stayed up all night together, got drunk and fucked. You know, you think you’re such a badass at that age.”

Heath paused here and drew in a shaky breath.

“He was on his motorbike one night and a car wiped him out. Hit and run, I don’t know if they ever found the guy. I saw Shin in the hospital. I remember thinking, it was like the car had gone right through him. They couldn’t stop the internal bleeding and he died.”

Sugizo bit his lip and waited for Heath to go on.

“Then when I was about twenty-one, I’d finally moved on. Shit happens, right? Anyway, around the time I met hide, I fell in with a pretty bad crowd in Osaka and I met Issay. We started off as friends, just a couple of outsiders, and then we started hooking up. After about six months of being on and off with this gang, there was a… misunderstanding between me and these guys. I could take care of myself, but they got Issay. They shot him in front of me. Right here,” Heath gave Sugizo a little tap on the back of his head. “I called hide for help. He bailed me out from those people. That’s when I moved to Tokyo and started working for Yoshiki.

“After that, it’s just… one night stands here and there, or nothing. I thought, it’s not worth starting something if it’s just going to end badly. And then you come along and it… just… scares me.”

“What scares you?” Sugizo asked him gently.

“How much I…” Heath drew his arms tighter around him. “Sugizo. Please don’t die on me.”

 

Sugizo extracted himself and moved to pull Heath into his arms, softly stroking his back and saying nothing for a while. Heath made a small noise of contentment, and Sugizo smiled when he felt his lover’s slim body relaxing beneath his touch.

“Your hair’s getting pretty long,” he said fondly.

“Yeah,” Heath murmured. “You said you liked it that way.”

“I do. I love it.” Sugizo’s heart ached badly, and he held him like that for a long time until they both fell asleep.

 

Sugizo stayed with Heath until the next evening. They had had barely any time to spend with each other over the past weeks, so they lay in bed together for hours, just enjoying each others’ company and talking in hushed voices. Sugizo recalled Taiji’s words more clearly and felt stupid and guilty for not seeing just how much Heath loved and cared for him, so much so that he was willing to show what was under his usual quiet and stoic exterior. _Don’t fuck this up_.

 

He was getting changed that night when he heard a noise that sounded like, “Hmm.”

He looked up and saw Heath leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching him. “Are you wearing that to the gig tonight?”

“Yep.” Sugizo’s voice was muffled as he pulled a tank top on over his head. “Why? Don’t like it?”

“No…” Heath said almost absentmindedly. He reached out and ran his fingers down Sugizo’s neck and along his back where the top was stripped and torn. “I just… want to rip it off you.”

“Maybe I’ll let you do that next time,” Sugizo teased.

Heath looked disappointed when Sugizo pulled his leather jacket on.

“Is it okay if I keep tailing you?” Heath asked. “You can say no…”

Sugizo hesitated. “I guess so. If it’ll stop you worrying.”

“You won’t even know I’m there. I just… I just need to make sure nothing’s going to happen to you.”

“You could have just said that in the beginning, you know,” Sugizo said gently.

“I’ve only ever told one other person about Shin and Issay.” Heath looked uncomfortable. “Do _you_ want to have to think about the people you care about, dying?”

Sugizo was quiet for a moment, and then nodded understandingly. “Okay.”

 

 


	5. Wisteria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [Game](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cXGDLUItwexGh4nxHS8maMYxzj45JbJ0)  
>  **Artist:** MUCC

As he had promised, Heath was keeping a low profile. Unlike Taiji or hide, Heath could blend into the crowd; even with his experienced eye, Sugizo did not often find it easy to spot him.

 

Onstage, Sugizo took to playing guitar back to back with J or Inoran which always sent the girls in the audience into waves of hysteria. He even kissed Inoran a couple of times; this was for Youjeen’s benefit. She and her two pets usually liked to stand very close to the front at stage left so that she could watch Sugizo play.

After each gig, Sugizo returned to the same bar, Gauze, with Youjeen and her two admirers.

“So, how about you tell me about yourself?” His fingers toyed with the straps on her dress.

“Where do I start?” Youjeen swirled the ice in her drink. “Well, I grew up in Chiba but I’ve been living in South Korea for a while now.”

“Do you have family there?”

“I have no family,” she said shortly, and then immediately softened her tone. “You could say I was running away from my demons. Plus they have some of the best plastic surgeons in the world. I used to be such an ugly little duckling.”

“Are you serious? I don’t believe that for a second,” Sugizo said smoothly.

“No, really,” she insisted. “I got mixed up with some dreadful people when I was young. They hit me and cut my face. I was lucky to escape with my life. I had a terrible scar, but that’s been fixed now.”

“And you went to South Korea to get away from these awful people?”

She nodded.

“Why did you come back? Aren’t you afraid of them?”

Youjeen looked thoughtful for a moment. “I guess I felt homesick after all these years.”

 

Eventually they took to meeting at Gauze two or three nights a week, even when there wasn’t a Lunacy gig. Each time, Youjeen became more receptive to Sugizo’s advances. Each time, Kaya and Hora remained silent and obedient as always. On one particular night, Heath sat a table off to one side, nursing a beer, watching as Sugizo slowly ran a hand up and down Youjeen’s thigh and kissed her.

Once he had seen the three of them off at the end of the night, Sugizo returned to the bar for one last drink to unwind. Heath caught his eye and sauntered off to the men’s room. Sugizo took a few minutes to finish off his rum and Coke before following him.

As soon as he entered the men’s room, he found himself pressed back against the door with Heath’s lips upon his.

“What’s this all about?” Sugizo asked breathlessly.

“Just reminding you that you’re mine.” Heath reached behind him to lock the door.

Sugizo chuckled a little. “I’m surprised you’re still here.”

“You’re not the only one here who’s working,” Heath said more seriously. “I’m making sure one of hide’s jobs gets finished. But I wanted to ask how you’re going.”

“She’s tenacious.” Sugizo was exasperated. “I’m having a hell of a time convincing her to go somewhere less crowded or to leave Kaya and Hora. She’s got a small knife on her but that’s it… aside from the scars on her leg.”

“Scars?”

“She has a row of short, straight scars. She cuts herself. I counted about seventeen but one of them’s recently healed.” Sugizo looked at Heath. “It wasn’t there the last time I saw her.”

Heath was quiet for a moment, taking all of this in. “Could be that she’s has a love-hate relationship with herself. Failing to win Yoshiki’s approval…”

Sugizo nodded.

“I should get back,” Heath said reluctantly, fingering the lapels of Sugizo’s jacket. “I’ll see you around.”

He unlocked the door and left, pulling the door closed behind him.

 

A few minutes later, Sugizo took a seat at the bar and asked for a glass of water. He looked up from drawing on the back of a coaster when a middle-aged man in an expensive Italian suit started coughing loudly into a napkin.

“Slow down there, Kobayashi!” one of his companions jibed. “You can’t drink like you did when you were twenty! You’ll give yourself another heart attack.”

The man gave Kobayashi a few firm slaps on the back and his smile disappeared when the coughing turned into wheezing and Kobayashi knocked a couple of bottles and glasses onto the floor with one hand, clawing at his chest and throat with the other. There was blood on the napkin in his hand.

One of the bartenders snapped his fingers at his colleague. “Toshiya, call an ambulance!”

Other bar patrons began staring; some looked annoyed at the disruption, others looked concerned or even scared. There was a smattering of screams from the neighbouring tables when the man crashed to the floor, purple in the face.

“He’s not breathing!” one of his other companions shouted.

 

All eyes were glued to the scene while someone attempted CPR on the ailing man, and nobody but Sugizo noticed a tall, long-haired figure get up from a table in the far corner and slip out the door.

 

* * *

 

hide held up a pack of cigarettes but Heath shook his head. “How did it go?”

“Just as you said,” Heath said. “He coughed up blood and keeled over. I passed the ambulance on my way here.”

“They won’t be able to do anything for him.” hide took a long drag. “Thanks for doing that for me. I’ll give you your cut when I get the rest of the payment. I would have been there myself, but if Youjeen saw me…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Heath said, shaking his head again.

Toshi cleared his throat. “Speaking of Youjeen, Yoshiki said he wanted to talk to you.”

  


Heath found Yoshiki in his office at the back of the building. The door was ajar and he heard Yoshiki talking on the phone in a low voice. Heath pushed the door open slowly; Yoshiki glanced up and motioned for him to sit down. Anza was also there, looking very small and worried and unlike the vivacious woman who had walked in all those nights ago.

Heath took a seat in one of the leather chairs and waited patiently.

Yoshiki nodded a couple of times. “I’m very sorry. I know he was a good man. Yes. Of course. If you need anything… Yes. Thank you. Take care.” He hung up and carefully placed the phone on his desk, looking very serious.

“Is everything okay?” Heath asked.

“No,” said Yoshiki. “But first of all, how are you?”

Heath was unsure of how to answer. “I’m… fine.”

“And Sugizo?” Seeing the look on his face, Yoshiki smiled knowingly. “Heath, if you had wanted to accompany him, all you had to do was ask.”

“I’m sorry,” Heath said awkwardly. “I didn’t—”

“Toshi didn’t tell me anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Yoshiki said smoothly. “I know he looks after you all.”

Heath just nodded.

“Back to my question: how is Sugizo coming along?”

“He’s making progress but he’s still trying to get her away from crowds and away from her two pets. She is armed, but only with a knife so far.” Heath paused. “I’ve followed her a few times but they’ve been going to a different place each night.”

Yoshiki nodded slowly while he poured a glass of red wine from a crystal carafe. “Drink?”

Heath politely declined so Yoshiki took a drink himself. “I’ve been speaking with Sakurai. It seems that Imai was keeping an eye on her as well, and he had a run-in with Youjeen.”

Heath looked at Anza and then Yoshiki. “Is he…?”

“He’d been out of contact for three days, so Sakurai sent two of his other men after him. Yutaka and Hoshino found parts of Imai in a dumpster near Ookayama.” Yoshiki’s voice became even softer. “Please take care. Both of you.”

 

* * *

 

It was very early in the morning by the time Heath arrived at the apartment in Togoshi-Ginza. The lights were all out; he unlocked the door as quietly as he could and slipped inside. There were no signs of any visitors so he made his way through the dark apartment to the bedroom and found Sugizo alone and sound asleep. Silently, Heath knelt down on the floor beside the bed and felt cold steel kissing his cheek.

 

He brushed it aside with one hand. “I didn’t give you a gun so that you could point it at me.”

In the darkness, Sugizo chuckled softly and lowered the firearm. “What are you doing here?”

Heath reached over to brush a stray lock of hair away from his face. “I’ve just come from The Underneath. I want you to pull out of the job, or let me help you finish it.”

“I _can’t_. I’m so close—”

“Sugizo, Imai’s dead.”

Sugizo sat up slowly. “What?”

“Yoshiki was speaking with Sakurai tonight. They found Imai in pieces. She was onto him.”

Sugizo was quiet for a moment and then patted the bed. Heath got up from the floor and sat on the edge of the bed, and Sugizo wrapped his arms around his slender frame.

“I’ll be careful, I promise. But I _have_ to finish this. It’ll be even more dangerous if I stop now and go AWOL on her.”

Heath nodded wordlessly.

 

There was a thoughtful silence between them and then Sugizo asked, “When did you say Imai died?”

“About three nights ago. Why?”

“That was about when I last saw her. Youjeen cut herself sometime between then and tonight.”

Heath looked at him. “She’s keeping count.”

Sugizo nodded.

“I’ll pass this onto Yoshiki.” Heath started to get up but Sugizo kept his arms around him.

“Can’t you stay?” he murmured.

Heath gently pulled away. “You know I can’t.”

 

On his way out, Heath paused by the bedroom door. “By the way, I’d stop going to Gauze if I were you. There’s a better bar in Shibuya called Revolver. It’s run by some friends of mine.”

 


	6. Sakura

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [Zessai (feat. Kyo)](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hlLA0OOK1rEZ8LmF3GBRwNkq6U7tGus_)  
>  **Artist:** Sugizo

Youjeen looked at Sugizo with a strange mixture of panic and curiosity. “What’s wrong with Gauze?”

Sugizo laughed. “Nothing’s _wrong_ with it. Going there just seems kind of wrong after that old guy died.” He had a hand on her shoulder and let it slide down to the small of her back. “Besides, I feel like I should take you somewhere different. A little more… upmarket.”

“I like the sound of that,” she said, and she seemed more relaxed after hearing this. “I was getting a bit tired of that crowd anyway. There was a weird guy who was following me.”

“Really? What guy?” Sugizo asked carefully.

“I dunno, some creep.” She smiled brightly at him. “But that’s okay, he’s gone now. So, what’s this new bar?”

 

“What can I get for you gorgeous people?” The pretty, long-haired bartender had the same charming Kansai accent that Heath had. He paused and held up a hand. “Wait, let me guess…”

He eyed the both of them carefully, and quickly mixed up a couple of drinks, sliding them across the counter.

“Strawberry Lemon Drop Martini for the lady, and for the gentleman…” he looked at Sugizo and there was a hint of a smirk in his soft smile. “A real gentleman’s drink.”

Sugizo smiled as he took a drink. The Rusty Nail was well-balanced and he nodded in appreciation; any friend of Heath’s had to be good.

“I love this,” Youjeen said. She dipped a finger into her drink and licked it provocatively.

Sugizo forced a smile. “I told you it was a good idea to try a different bar.”

“Well, you _do_ have very good taste,” she said.

The bartender nodded at Kaya and Hora who stood behind them. “What about your two friends?”

“Don’t worry about them,” Youjeen said carelessly, tugging at Sugizo’s arm and dragging him to a table in one corner.

“Want to come back to my place later?” he asked in a low voice, his lips almost touching her ear.

“Oh, I don’t know…” she said. “What if you take advantage of me?”

Sugizo slung an arm around her waist, letting his hand sit high up on her thigh, knowing she wouldn’t object. “You’ve been playing hard to get for long enough, don’t you think?”

She put a hand on top of his coyly. “Yes… but I’m enjoying our little dance. Besides, I want to get to know this place a bit more. That bartender was pretty cute.”

“Hey, don’t you start looking at other men now,” Sugizo said. “I might get jealous.”

“Even _you_ can’t tie me down.” Youjeen smiled mischievously and got up to perch in his lap.

Sugizo rested his hand at the small of her back and glanced at Hora and Kaya. “What about these two? Do they ever get jealous of the company you keep?”

“They don’t get a lot of say in what I do,” she said coolly. “Not after I cut their tongues out.”

 

* * *

 

The bartender walked around the counter and put a gentle hand on Heath’s arm. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Heath nodded. “Sorry we haven’t had a chance to catch up properly.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just nice to know that you’re still around.” He followed Heath’s gaze as the four of them went their separate ways at the end of the night. “Something going on?”

“You know I can’t say, Masato.”

“You don’t have to. I’ve been watching you watch those four for three nights straight.” Masato smirked. “Got your eye on one of them? All of them?”

Heath gave him a withering look.

Masato laughed. “Relax. I’m joking. But remember when you used to come here cruising for someone to go home with? You broke more than your fair share of hearts.”

“But broken hearts make good customers, right?”

“Sure, if you’re not the one who has to scoop them up off the floor after a night of hard drinking,” Masato said.

Heath grinned at that.

Masato’s expression softened and became more thoughtful. “Seriously, though. Is there something I can help with?”

Heath shook his head. “I really don’t want you or the others to get involved. The less you know, the better.”

“Look, I get that, but you also have to know when to ask for help,” Masato chided him.

“Yeah.” Heath cast another quick glance around the bar and finished off his Coke. “Hey, thanks for the pep talk. I’d better go, I’ve got work to do. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

Masato nodded. “Ride safe.”

 

Outside, Heath called Toshi to check in with him before getting on his motorbike. It had been raining earlier in the night and the roads were slick and glistening. Pools of rainwater collected at the edges of the road. Heath had decided to take the long way home, along the highway. Small droplets of water on his helmet collided with each other and streamed down in rivulets. He passed the odd taxi here and there and a couple of road maintenance vehicles, and he soon realised that he was being followed.

Heath angled his motorbike into the next lane and watched in his mirrors as the car, a black Mercedes, followed him. Youjeen’s car. _Shit_. If they were only following him to see where he would go, they would be more discreet about it. They had to have realised that he was onto them by now, which meant that they didn’t care if he knew. And that meant that they did not intend to let him out of their sight.

He sped the bike up and as expected, the car sped up as well and drew level with him. He hit the brakes and drew his gun, firing two shots into the rear windscreen. Glass fragments exploded into the air like confetti, glittering under the streetlights and the car fishtailed on the rain-soaked road, spraying water from the tyres, taillights glowing a dazzling red in the dark. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Heath shifted his motorbike into gear and shot past the car just as the driver regained control and sped after him.

Heath was very conscious of car’s advantage over his motorbike on the slippery road, but he pushed the bike harder as the car once again drew level with him. He fired another shot into the passenger window; the car swerved away momentarily and he caught a fleeting glimpse of Kaya’s effeminate face watching him through the broken glass. He was about to shoot again when the car smashed sidelong into him.

He hit the concrete hard and the momentum sent him crashing into the grass and shrubs lining the side of the highway. The bike careened away from him on its side and there was a loud _crunch_ and the skidding of wet tyres as the bike went under the wheels of the car. He lay there on his side for several seconds, stunned, and it took a few seconds for his head to stop spinning. Gingerly he tested his arms and legs. They were shaky and battered, but seemed to be working. He felt suffocated and pulled the helmet off, tossing it aside into the wet grass. It was badly damaged and useless now. He tried to push himself up onto his hands and knees and clenched his teeth hard when he felt a burst of pain in his side. Every breath felt like a knife twisting in his ribs so he slowly eased himself back down into the grass.

He became acutely aware of the sound of footsteps crunching in wet gravel and he groped around in the dark for the gun. Nothing. Shit. Trying not to make a sound, he reached down for the Bowie knife in his boot and lay there quietly with the knife tucked beneath his forearm.

The footsteps were louder now and the sound of crunching gravel became the soft rustle of long grass being trampled and shrubs being pushed aside, and he felt a rough hand at his shoulder.

Heath slammed the knife into Hora’s chest. The other man let out noise that sounded like he’d been winded, and he clutched at Heath’s hand uselessly as he sank into the grass beside him. Thick, dark blood pooled up from his mouth and ran out across his face and down his neck. The knife felt like it was stuck; Heath used his other hand to punch it through the rest of the way, using his own weight to drive it in and feeling the blade bite through bone. There was an explosion of pain and he tasted blood when Kaya kicked him again and again. As he lay there in the wet grass and mud, Kaya’s hands patted him down and found his phone in his jacket pocket. This was tossed carelessly into the grass, and Heath had no strength left to fight back when he was dragged to the car and the boot lid closed over him.

 

* * *

 

**Masato**

defspiral | guitarist

(ex-the Underneath, ex-Transtic Nerve)


	7. Freesia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [Devil Got My Soul](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1idcz_MzWO19DjeMTU1-hJt9qgzgQNCUV)  
>  **Artist:** FAKE?

“It’s so quiet around here without those two.” Pata was up to his elbows in suds.

hide looked over his shoulder. “You used way too much detergent, dumbass. You only need to use this much.” He squirted a little of the bright green liquid detergent into the bubbles.

“Wh— you’ve just gone and added even more soap!”

hide shrugged.

Pata glanced at Toshi, who was standing in one corner with his phone glued to his ear. “What’s up with him?”

“I’ll ask him,” hide said, and shouted clear across the room, “Hey! Toshi! What’s going on?”

A few of the regular bar patrons giggled.

Toshi looked up from his phone, looking simultaneously annoyed and distracted. “I’ve been trying to call Heath for hours but it keeps ringing out.”

“Maybe he’s busy,” Taiji suggested. “ _Or_ maybe he’s sick of you calling him every five minutes.”

Toshi gave him a withering look. “He’s not you, Taiji. And, unlike you, _I’m_ worried about him.”

“Hey, I care about the kid too!”

“When did you last speak to him?” Pata asked.

“Last night when he was leaving the bar in Shibuya,” Toshi said in a low voice.

Pata’s brow furrowed. “It’s not like him to ignore calls.”

Toshi nodded. “I know it hasn’t been 24 hours yet and maybe I’m being paranoid, but...”

Pata and Toshi exchanged a glance. Each knew that the other was thinking about what had happened to Imai.

“Did he say anything to you in particular?” hide asked.

“Just that Sugizo and Youjeen hadn’t gone home together, and that he was leaving the bar as well. Said he was going to head home via the…” Toshi stopped. “The highway. Taiji, I want you to go out there and see what you can find.”

Taiji grabbed his leather jacket. “Aye, sir.”

 

* * *

 

The Harley rumbled along the dark highway and Taiji scanned the sides of the road for any sign of recent activity. For the first few kilometres, all he saw was road and grass and trees until he came across some glass scattered on the road, sparkling in the headlight of his motorbike. Up ahead was a flash of white peeking out from the grass. He eased his Harley to a stop at the side of the road, dismounted and wandered up to a crushed motorbike.

Using the torch on his phone, Taiji walked in a slow circle around the wreckage. The bike looked like it had been dragged by a car before getting dislodged and sheering into the grass.

He dialled Toshi.

“Did you find something?”

“Yeah. A wrecked motorbike. White Ducati. Black stripe on the side.”

There was a short pause from Toshi. “Heath’s bike.”

“Yeah.”

“What else?”

Taiji retraced his steps back down the highway.

“Anything?” Toshi asked impatiently. “What about skid marks on the road?”

“I’m looking,” Taiji said, sounding annoyed. “There’d be no skid marks. It was raining last night. But I saw glass on the road a few hundred metres back.”

He moved into the grass, using his free hand to push shrubs and tree branches out of the way.

“Toshi, do you still have hide or Pata with you?”

“Yeah, we’re here.” Pata’s voice.

“Can you call Heath’s phone?”

“Hold on.”

It was quiet for several long seconds and then Taiji heard a phone ringing from somewhere in the bushes. He followed the sound and found the phone lying face up in the grass. The screen was lit up brightly, but the face was shattered.

“I found the phone but— oh shit…”

Toshi, hide and Pata looked at each other uneasily.

“There’s a body here. Not him.” Taiji crouched down to get a better look. “Huh. This asshole’s got a knife in him, buried up to the grip. Do you think Heath wants it back? Fuck, I would.”

Taiji cradled the phone against his shoulder, planted one knee firmly in the dead man’s chest and yanked at the knife with both hands until it came free. The blade was covered in congealed blood; Taiji shrugged and wiped it off on the guy’s trousers.

“ _Is he there_?” Toshi asked sharply.

Taiji cast another look around. “Not from what I can see. But I’ve found his helmet. It’s smashed. That says to me that he had time to take it off after getting thrown from the bike. Then he knifed the guy who was coming after him.”

“We don’t know if he’s gotten away or if someone’s got him,” Toshi said.

“No idea,” said Taiji. He very carefully slipped the Bowie knife into his belt for safekeeping. “I’ll keep looking for a little while longer, but…” his voice trailed off and he shone the light along the ground. “There’s drag marks in the dirt. There was a second person and they dragged him away.”

“We have to tell Yoshiki,” hide said. “And we need to let Sugizo know as well.”

“We can’t just call Sugizo if he’s with Youjeen,” Pata said dryly.

Toshi looked at the other three. “Let me see what I can do.”

 

* * *

 

“Masato!” One of the other bartenders waved at him. “Phone!”

“Who is it?”

Ryo shrugged. “I dunno, some guy. He says it’s urgent.”

Masato snatched the phone out of Ryo’s hand. “Yes?”

“Is this Masato?”

“Yes…”

“My name’s Toshi. I work with Heath at a bar called The Underneath."

Masato nodded. "Yes, I know. Is something the matter?"

"You haven’t seen Heath lately, have you?”

Masato retreated out the bathroom where it was quieter, and lowered his voice. “No. Not since he left last night. I think it was around 11:30. Did something happen?”

“One of our boys found his motorbike ruined on the side of the road.”

Masato suddenly felt very sick.

“I need you to do something for me,” Toshi went on. “Do you know a man named Sugizo? I believe he’s been coming to your bar recently.”

“Yes, I know him. He’s with this girl who’s all over him.”

“If you see him, please find a way tell Sugizo, and him alone, that something’s happened to Heath.”

Masato swallowed the queasy feeling in his stomach. “He and the girl haven’t turned up tonight, either.”

 

* * *

 

Sugizo glanced at Youjeen while she drove through the Tokyo traffic. “What’s the rush?”

“I’ve got a surprise,” she said, sounding just that little bit excited.

“Why weren’t Hora and Kaya with you tonight? You take them everywhere with you.”

Youjeen either didn’t hear this or ignored him and kept driving. She was being oddly evasive and she’d turned up in a different car, alone. Her sudden change in behaviour told Sugizo that whatever happened, he had to finish the job tonight.

They eventually ended up in an industrial area. A broken streetlight flickered dimly. Youjeen pulled up next to a battered car outside a building that used to be a mechanic’s garage. He recognised it as Youjeen’s car but there were bullet holes in the car’s rear windscreen and another in the passenger window.

“Come on, then!” She got out of the car, opened the passenger door and practically dragged him out.

Sugizo’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to glance at the screen. Toshi. He hung up quickly; Youjeen hadn’t noticed. She had walked on ahead and banged on the roller door.

“Kaya, it’s me,” she called. “Open up.”

A sliver of light opened up as the roller door groaned to life, screeching and clattering as it rose.

She turned back to Sugizo, looking very pleased with herself. “You know how I said there was some guy following me? Well, I got rid of him, but there another one as well.” She paused and smiled. “A _pretty_ one. I always notice the pretty ones. At first I thought, maybe he’s just a huge fan of Lunacy and likes to go to the same bar we went to… but then I saw him at the bar in Shibuya.”

Hearing this, Sugizo recalled what had happened to Imai. She’d noticed him following her, too.

When they stepped inside, Kaya greeted them with his usual stony expression and closed the roller door behind them.

The garage was mostly empty, save for some industrial shelving fixed to the floor, a long set of drawers with a laminated wooden benchtop peeling with age, a couple of damp, rotting cardboard boxes and some old tyres carelessly thrown into a corner. Cut into the layers of dust and grit on the concrete floor were clear trails where somebody had been partially dragged in. Sugizo’s eyes followed this trail as he walked behind Youjeen. A man sat propped up against a wall, his hands bound, his long hair obscuring part of his face and matted with blood.

“It’s nice to have admirers, don’t you think?” she was saying. She stooped over and wrapped her arms loosely about the man’s neck, and Sugizo’s blood ran cold when he saw that it was Heath.


	8. Belladonna

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [Getting Closer](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BugK8cswvdPNWpE4-ZrJWJ0ZJV0yt_rz)  
>  **Artist:** the Underneath

Heath was on the floor with blood smeared over most of his face, his wrists zip tied together, leaning heavily against the wall. He was clearly in a lot of pain and breathing shallowly. Sugizo looked around; piled up on the ageing benchtop were the knives that they’d obviously found after searching Heath: a switchblade, a short dagger, and two butterfly knives. His Bowie knife was nowhere to be seen.

Sugizo tried to discreetly reach for his Beretta and almost flinched when Youjeen grabbed hold of his arm. “I know he’s not much to look at now,” she said. “But I promise you, he’s really quite lovely.”

Sugizo’s throat felt constricted. “What are you going to do with him?”

“If he weren’t so pretty I’d probably have killed him like that other creep who was following me. But I’m going to keep him.” Youjeen said. “Especially now that Hora’s dead.”

“...Hora’s dead?”

“Oh don’t worry. I was getting a bit tired of Hora anyway. If this one hadn’t killed him, I would have.”

Deliberately avoiding eye contact with Sugizo, Heath looked up at her and smirked. “Fucking right I killed your bitch friend,” he said with vicious satisfaction.

 

All that Sugizo could do was watch numbly when Kaya grabbed Heath by the hair and hit him hard.

“Kaya!” Youjeen screamed and slapped him across the face. Kaya immediately retreated like a beaten dog with its tail between its legs. Already his cheek was reddening from the slap. He bowed his head submissively but maintained a steady glare at Heath. 

Heath smiled back at him coldly and wiped his bloody lip with his bound hands. “Looks like your mistress has a new favourite,” he said in a mocking tone.

“I’d watch that mouth if I were you,” Youjeen said, kneeling down to his level. She looked at him eye to eye and his cocky smile didn’t falter. “I like you, but I’ll cut your tongue out if I have to.”

“Stop it,” Sugizo said hoarsely, his fingers closing around the grip of his Beretta, but Kaya had already raised his gun at Sugizo.

She paused and very slowly raised her eyes to his. “Sugizo. You _know_ him.”

 

Kaya placed a hand over Sugizo’s wrist and gave it a tug. When Sugizo resisted, Kaya gave him a rough nudge with his gun and Sugizo released his grip on his Beretta just enough for the other man to take it. Kaya stepped away and lowered his own gun, bowing his head again.

Youjeen turned back to Heath and slipped the knife out from the holster at her thigh, holding it tightly in one fist, blade down. Her voice was sickly sweet. “I wonder what happens if I do this?”

Still looking at Sugizo, Youjeen drove the knife into Heath’s leg. Heath doubled over in pain, biting back a scream, and Sugizo felt it rip right through him. He must have reacted in some small way because a small smile spread across her face.

“You’re _lovers_ aren’t you?” Youjeen looked down at Heath and her expression was one of cheerful delight. “I’ve never had a pair of lovers before.”

Heath seethed. “Fuck you,” he spat.

She just smiled and leaned over to kiss his bloody face; he edged away from her and squeezed his eyes shut, groaning as her hand twisted the knife slightly.

 

Sugizo lunged forward and aimed a sharp kick from below her wrist, forcing her to let go of the knife; she quickly spun around and struck back with surprising speed. They exchanged several blows; Youjeen was going all out, and it seemed like she was enjoying it. What she lacked in skill she made up for in viciousness. He kept his distance, deflecting her strikes and kicks back at her, and the opportunity finally arose, he grappled her by the arm and drove her back with a hard palm strike flat against the shoulder. She staggered back and crashed against the benchtop; the knives on top scattered and as she groped for the dagger, the rest of them went flying across the floor. Sugizo made a dash for one of the knives as well but she stopped him with a slash aimed at his head; he snapped back and the knife whistled just past his face. He went in for a direct strike to the throat and Youjeen ducked to one side; he followed through with a backhanded strike that caught her on the side of her head but she’d also managed a glancing slash to the ribs.

 

Heath watched the bright blood slowly blooming on Sugizo’s shirt as he moved, and he tried to get up but Kaya shoved him back again with one foot and pointed a gun at his head. Heath glowered at him and then glanced at Sugizo and Youjeen; it was only a matter of time before they would tire and one of them would make a critical mistake.

Heath looked at Kaya again; he was also watching the other two, eyes darting between the two opponents. Behind the emptiness in his eyes was a kind of hollow fear and for a brief second Heath wondered what Youjeen had done to him, before he braced himself against the wall and kicked Kaya’s legs hard out from under him. Heath wasted no time in looping his bound hands around the other man’s neck. Kaya immediately dropped both guns to claw at his throat, legs thrashing wildly as he choked and fought for air; Heath pulled hard, feeling the crushing ache in his body and the searing pain from the knife in his leg. He was suddenly thrown backwards and Kaya made a loud, convulsive gasp for air. The zip tie had snapped.

Kaya was still choking but he made a mad scramble for one of the guns and grasped it firmly. His trigger finger jerked and the gunshot went wild when he was wrenched back by the hair with a strangled cry. Heath ripped the knife out of his own leg and stabbed Kaya in the neck just below the ear. His screams were cut short when Heath dragged the knife across his throat; the blade was not as sharp as his own were but it still bit through flesh easily. Kaya’s body spasmed and his fingers groped uselessly at the slippery blood pouring out of the ragged neck wound. Heath yanked the knife out and shoved him roughly aside to finish dying. Kaya made sick gagging noises as he slowly writhed and twitched on the floor; his body then went limp and he lay face down in the expanding pool of his own blood.

 

When the gun went off Sugizo whipped around to look at what had happened; Youjeen moved fast and grabbed him in a headlock, pressing the dagger firmly against his neck. Just as Heath had done to Kaya, Youjeen pulled Sugizo’s head back firmly by the hair, forcing his head back and exposing his throat. Sugizo felt cold all over; he knew exactly how sharp Heath’s knives were, and how easily she could slice him clean open.

“Got you, darling,” she hissed with a smile.

Heath slowly stood up. Loosely clasped in one hand was Kaya’s gun; in the other hand was the knife. He limped across the garage, his hand leaving a smudged trail of Kaya’s blood along the wall. His own blood ran from the deep knife wound in his leg.

“Let him go.” The gun in his left hand was aimed at her head; he was hurt but his hands remained steady. The only problem was Sugizo.

Youjeen shook her head, smiling. “Drop the gun.”

“Don’t fucking do it,” Sugizo growled.

“Drop the fucking gun!” Youjeen repeated, and Sugizo clenched his teeth as he felt the blade grazing over his skin.

 

Heath kept the gun trained on Youjeen. He glanced between the two; he didn’t have a clean shot at her and she knew it.

 

Youjeen yanked at Sugizo’s hair harder. “Fucking drop it!”

“Let him go first.” Heath’s voice was low.

She smirked at him. “You know you can’t make the shot.”

Heath wavered a little and lowered the gun.

“That’s right. I know you can’t hurt him.”

 

The gun dropped to Heath’s side and Sugizo felt an intense desperation tugging at him. _No no no don’t, don’t let her go, not after all of this._

 

Heath raised his eyes to meet Sugizo’s. _Please trust me._

 

He couldn’t get a good shot at Youjeen, so he shot Sugizo instead.

 

Sugizo let out a gut-wrenching cry and sank heavily to his knees when Heath shot him in the upper thigh, but this was drowned out by the succession of gunshots that struck Youjeen squarely in the chest. He limped closer with each shot and her body was racked from the impact of each bullet.

Heath shoved the muzzle of the gun beneath her jaw and there was a rapid _click-click_ ; the magazine was empty, so he plunged the knife into her heart.

Clenching his teeth, Sugizo dragged himself away and watched Youjeen slowly crumple onto the floor. He had both hands pressed very firmly over the entry wound and looked around the garage. Kaya and Youjeen’s bodies were a complete mess of blood. He and Heath scarcely looked better.

 

Heath leaned against the wall beside Sugizo and slowly eased himself down onto the floor with a laboured groan. He reached over and grasped Sugizo’s hand tightly.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Sugizo grimaced. “No. You fucking shot me again, you asshole.”

Heath chuckled weakly. “If I’d known you’d be so goddamn ungrateful, I’d have let her have you.”

“Would you really?” Sugizo was joking, but Heath’s expression turned serious.

“No,” he said. “But I’d shoot you again in a heartbeat if I could save your life.”

“That’s just about the hottest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” Sugizo said sarcastically.

Heath laughed again and bit back another groan of pain. “Call hide, will you? Tell him to come get us before we bleed out. I don’t want to die here with these two cunts.”

 


	9. Dahlia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [become the light, blessed the night](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IJhafaVILVNsM-tOn6xxk4vsIs_hVQUv)  
>  **Artist:** J

“Seriously, don’t bleed all over my car,” hide said, glancing at the two in the back seat of his Jaguar. “She’s a classic. Do you know how much work it was to restore her?”

 Heath just snorted derisively at this. hide had bandaged them both up temporarily but blood was starting to soak through.

 “Christ I need a drink,” Sugizo moaned. “Don’t you have any hard liquor on you?”

“No can do. You know about mixing alcohol and painkillers,” hide said. “We need to get you to Yoshiki’s so you can get patched up properly and I’ll get you some morphine.” He gave them a quick grin. “Then you’ll feel _really_ nice.”

 

As promised, once they were safely up at Yoshiki’s penthouse, hide dutifully administered a morphine shot each before Yoshiki’s nurses could clean them up, stitch up Heath’s knife wound and dig the slug out of Sugizo’s leg. In the background, Toshi slowly paced back and forth, arranging a cleanup crew for the two bodies in the garage.

Heath had cracked a few ribs when the car hit him, and he was badly bruised and very sore. The pretty brunette nurse attending to him said it would take at least a month to fully heal, and to have plenty of rest and avoid strenuous activity.

“That means no rough sex,” Anza said with a big grin. The nurse agreed but she didn’t seem too impressed when Sugizo smothered a laugh and Heath gave an embarrassed cough that quickly turned into a groan when his aching body protested, even through the drug-induced haze.

 

They were given separate rooms to rest and recover in peace but much later that night, Heath awoke to the sound of his door closing and then Sugizo was climbing into bed with him. They slept peacefully in each other’s arms and that was how everybody found them in the morning.

“Aww,” said hide, beaming. “Have you ever seen two cold-blooded killers looking so cute?”

“Can’t you fucking knock?” Sugizo said, rubbing his eyes.

“You’re supposed to be in separate rooms, resting,” the pretty brunette nurse said pointedly.

Sugizo scowled. “We _were_ resting, until you all barged in.”

She meticulously examined them both, checking for signs of fever, making sure that their wounds were clean and not bleeding through, and asking Heath lots of questions about his condition and how he felt.

 

After the nurse had left, Taiji carefully laid the Bowie knife on the little table by the bed.

“Here,” he said. “I found this in some guy.”

“Thanks Taiji.” Heath smiled gratefully. “I was going to let him keep it, but…”

“Yeah,” Taiji said, grinning back. “I figured you would want it back. ‘Fraid I can’t do the same for your bike, though.”

“You did good, guys,” Toshi said. “Yoshiki will come and see you at some stage, but in the meantime you’re both getting a month’s vacation to heal up.”

 

After enduring several days of being pampered by Yoshiki’s gorgeous blonde assistants and round the clock monitoring by the nurses, Heath announced that he was going home and taking Sugizo with him. They were happier at home, just the two of them, and Heath enjoyed waking him up with languid kisses as sweet as their first.

“I could never get tired of this,” Sugizo mused one morning, lightly drawing his fingertips up and down Heath’s arms, reaching up to softly stroke his face, smiling when Heath kissed his fingers ever so delicately.

Heath leaned on one elbow and gazed down at Sugizo affectionately. “When are you going to bring your stuff back from the other apartment in Togoshi-Ginza?”

Sugizo mused over this for a second and let his hands wander, brushing Heath’s hair back and watching it spill over his shoulders. “Think I should?”

“Of course you should,” Heath said gently. “Sugizo, _this_ is your place.”

He said it so matter-of-factly and without hesitation that Sugizo felt a lump in his throat and hugged Heath carefully. “Yeah.”

 

* * *

 

“You’ve still got eleven days of your vacation left, you might as well use them. Are you even fully healed yet?”

“Toshi, I’m _fine_. I can walk and move around, and I’m _bored_ ,” Heath complained.

“So go somewhere!” Over the phone, Toshi sounded exasperated. “Go to Hokkaido—”

“We did!”

“—or Australia, or go visit some friends. Go to fucking Disneyland for all I care.”

“One time I got stoned and rode Space Mountain,” hide shouted. “Don’t do it. I was so scared, I swear to god.” Heath and Sugizo could hear Taiji and Pata laughing hysterically in the background.

“Treat yourselves! Jesus, I’ve never heard of anyone so unwilling to take time off from work. Did I mention that it’s _paid_ time off?”

“Thanks Toshi, we’ll see you tonight,” Heath said and hung up before Toshi could respond.

Sugizo chuckled. “He has a point, you know. It was nice going to Hokkaido. Maybe we could go to Osaka. When was the last time you went back there?”

Heath slid the balcony door open and lit a cigarette. “About a year after I started working for Yoshiki.” He rested his elbows on the railing and took a long drag.

“What’d you get up to?” Sugizo followed him out to the balcony and took a cigarette as well.

Heath calmly looked over his shoulder at him. “I killed the fucker who shot Issay.”

 

* * *

 

They took a detour to Revolver before heading to The Underneath. As soon as Masato spotted Heath, he pointed an accusing finger at him with a look so furious that two of the other bartenders, Taka and Masaki, quickly moved to the other end of the bar, and even Sugizo baulked.

Masato seized Heath by the wrist and dragged him to the bathroom, slamming the door shut. “Where the hell have you been?” he shouted. “I’ve been trying to call you! Are you okay? What happened? Your friend Toshi at The Underneath said that you were in an accident and your bike was totalled!”

“I did, and it was.” Heath lifted up one side of his shirt to show Masato the fading bruises. “I got run off the road and cracked three ribs.”

A toilet flushed and a balding salaryman emerged from one of the cubicles, obviously trying to pretend that he hadn’t heard anything. Masato fixed the man with an icy glare while he quickly washed his hands and hurried away, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with either of them.

“I called you _hundreds_ of times!”

“My phone was dest—”

“Taka and I thought you were dead! And why is that Sugizo guy with you? I thought he was with _her_!” Masato stopped and frowned. “What are you smiling about?”

“You,” Heath said, trying not to laugh.

 

Sugizo sat at the bar with a glass of water, glancing at the bathroom door every few seconds. He could hear someone shouting, even over the monotonous hum of noise in the bar, and then a salaryman practically ran out of the bathroom with his head down, looking very embarrassed. Several minutes later Heath and Masato emerged; the latter still looked grumpy but Heath had clearly managed to calm him down.

“Come on, let’s go.” Heath put a light hand on Sugizo’s arm.

“What about your friend?”

Heath suppressed a smile. “He’ll be fine after he steams for a bit. He just can’t help worrying about me sometimes.”

Sugizo glanced over to where Masato was looking at them a little suspiciously. “You’re really lucky to have such good friends outside of work. It doesn’t bother them that you have to keep secrets from them?”

“It used to, but they’ve gotten used to it.” Heath paused. “Masato… he’s the other person who knows about Shin and Issay. We’re close, but we’re not… we’re just friends.”

“Hey,” Sugizo said gently. “I didn’t ask about that, and I wasn’t going to. Okay?”

Heath was quiet for a moment, then nodded, smiling. “Okay.”

 


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** [Brilliant](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rUrqbvwK5qIh0VYzYROyz6w77hqCrclJ)  
>  **Artist:** defspiral

Sugizo poked his head into the store room. “Hey. Ready to go?”

“Just about,” Heath said. “Everything all right with Yoshiki?”

“Yeah. I just saw him off.” Sugizo held up a manila folder. “Got a new one. He must really like me or something.”

“Of course he likes you. Everyone likes you. Even Taiji likes you.”

Sugizo pulled him in close with a long and enticing kiss. “What about Heath?” he teased.

“I think you know,” Heath said very softly, deepening the kiss and making Sugizo melt into his arms.

“Trust me, I know,” Sugizo murmured. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ll go get the car. Meet you out the front.”

 

Heath could hear him saying good night to the others while he finished stacking the last few boxes onto the shelf. He dusted off his hands and closed the storeroom door. He took his jacket down from its peg and looked down quizzically when he heard something fall onto the floor.

He walked out into the bar, dangling a set of keys in the air. “Did someone leave some Yamaha keys behind?”

Pata was replacing bottles onto the shelves; he looked at Heath blankly and shrugged.

“Dunno,” hide said, sounding vague. “Ask Toshi.”

Heath shrugged and went to look for Toshi. It was no use giving it to Pata, who would want to take the motorbike apart, or hide, who would try to take it for a drunken joyride. Taiji had been downstairs all night with an interrogation so he’d be even less help.

 

He found Toshi in Yoshiki’s office, on the phone. The door was open but Heath knocked anyway and Toshi waved him in. 

“I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow,” he was saying. He nodded and finished the call, putting the phone down. “How’s things?”

“Not bad. Sugizo and I are heading off,” Heath said. He nodded at the phone. “Was that your new ladyfriend?”

Toshi smiled shyly. “I guess so. Yes. It’s too early to call it anything, but I’m… optimistic. Just the way that you and Sugizo look at each other, the way you look after each other… I keep thinking, _if I could even find half of that_ …” He laughed at himself and shook his head.

This time it was Heath’s turn to smile bashfully and he looked away for a second before quickly changing the subject. “Um. I actually came in because someone left a set of keys behind. Can I leave them with you? They look pretty new so the owner has to be coming back for them.”

Toshi started to say something and then appeared to change his mind. “Ah, you know, actually, I’d ask Sugizo about those.”

Heath sighed inwardly. This was turning into a wild goose chase. He headed for the front door and almost collided into Sugizo on the stairwell.

“There you are! What’s taking so long?”

Heath held up the keys and followed Sugizo back up the stairs to street level. “I found these. Toshi said you’d know something about them. And _don’t_ tell me to ask someone else. If I hear that one more time, I’m honestly going to start taking lives.”

Sugizo laughed and slipped an arm around his waist. “They’re yours.” Sugizo gave him a little squeeze. He sometimes forgot that the nurses had given Heath a clean bill of health weeks ago, and was still trying to shed the habit of treating him delicately.

“I don’t have a Yamaha,” Heath said flatly.

Sugizo turned him around. “Yeah you do.”

Heath found himself before a shiny black and white motorbike. He ran a hand over the bike’s body lightly.

“It’s an R1M.” He glanced at Sugizo sideways. “How did you…?”

“How did I know? I just notice these things.” Sugizo shrugged, trying not to look too pleased with himself. “I know I’m not the _only_ thing you like to have purring between your legs.”

Heath turned the key in the ignition and mounted the bike swiftly, humming in appreciation. “I didn’t realise how much I missed this.”

Sugizo laughed again and tossed him a new helmet to match, black with a white stripe on either side, and then opened the door of his GT-R. “See you at home?”

Heath gave the throttle a quick rev and couldn’t contain a smile of delight when the bike snarled for him. He looked up at Sugizo warmly. “See you at home.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! A huge thank you to everyone who has been following the story. Whether or not you've commented, it's wonderful knowing that you've been enjoying the ride and it means a lot! Really appreciate the love.


	11. TEASER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this little teaser, folks, and have an awesome Christmas. See you next year!

 

The rest of them watched in stunned silence when Heath hit him so hard that his head snapped to one side.

“Fuck, he’s gonna kill him,” hide said. “Taiji!”

Taiji put a firm hand on Heath’s arm and Heath promptly shook it off. “Heath, stop!”

Heath either didn’t hear him or chose not to because in one fluid movement he flicked a butterfly knife from his back pocket.

“No, Heath— _fuck_!” Taiji slapped his arm aside a split second too late; they all saw him recoil violently with one hand pressed against the cut along his left cheek. Yoshiki swiftly locked an arm around Heath’s neck and twisted his arm just enough to force him to drop the knife.

Pata watched sadly while Heath fought against Yoshiki’s hold.

“Heath, don’t!” hide shouted, dismayed.

“Stop it, Heath!” Taiji yelled at him and gave him a hard shake. “Stop! You’ll kill him like that!”

Heath’s voice came out in a low snarl, “Damn right I’ll fucking kill him.”

 

 


End file.
